Deployment at Dragus
by phatalbert21
Summary: Part Four of my Enterprise series. An attack against the Federation takes place, Hoshi faces a crisis and T'Pol struggles with a secret that could profoundly change her relationship with Hoshi. T'Pol/Hoshi


**Intro: **This one was a beast to write, Honestly I must've hit a groove because I just couldn't stop writing. For those who don't like larger stories, my apologies I can _reasonably_ say the next one won't be quiet so long. For all you knew reader's you should realize this is the fourth installment of my _Enterprise _series and I suggest you go to my profile and check out the other three parts before reading this one (they're all numbered for your reading pleasure). Lots of technobabble for this one, any errors with current Trek laws (such as they are) belong to me.

**Warning/Disclaimer: **If you didn't get it from the summary prior to clicking on this story, allow me to clarify. This is femmeslash, meaning it depicts a loving relationship between two women.

**Thanks: **Erin and Nate, for volunteering their vast collective knowledge of everything trek and really fleshing out some of the details of the story. Jill, for helping me dig deeper with character motives and emotions by asking me the tough questions. Paul, for his idea to give Sarnovia a scene and allowing me to delve into her character and culture a little more.

**Note: **Part way through the story there will be a couple **seriously **O.O.C moments, but don't worry by the end of the story you'll understand why they're there. No beta for this one, so any grammar or punctuation errors are mine and I beg you to bear with me, thanks.

_**Deployment at Dragus**_

By: Phatalbert21

_2:26 pm August 16th 2166_

The bridge of the _U.S.S. Enterprise _was calm and relaxed, it was a reflection of the crew's enjoyment of travelling through a highly trafficked, if quiet sector of space. Last week they had initiated a First Contact with a friendly species of agriculturalists who in addition to restocking their supplies had been willing to escort them to a shortcut through the sector that hadn't been on their star charts. The shortcut had helped them to make up the time they had lost repairing _Enterprise_ after a sneak attack from three drone ships a couple of months ago. All in all things were going good, which looking back should have been the first clue something big was going to go down.

Lieutenant Commander Hoshi Sato was at her post monitoring the general comm. frequencies; a mixture of garbled ship-to-ship transmissions and background 'space noise' when suddenly everything went silent. Frowning she made a motion to check her earpiece when an automated recording from Starfleet came through, the message it contained made her blood run cold and her heart skip a few beats.

Somehow she managed to compose her voice and relayed the message. "Captain, I just received an emergency call from Headquarters... it said all Starfleet ships are hereby ordered to rendezvous at Dragus. There's been a planet wide catastrophe, details are sketchy but..." She nearly lost it but months spent in the company of a Vulcan had taught Hoshi a thing or two about compartmentalization of one's emotions and drawing on that experience she managed to continue. "Over 10,000 people have been confirmed dead."

Captain Hunter sat up straighter in his chair and his face tightened almost instantly; he was in full crisis mode. "Ensign Jacobs, immediate course correction for Dragus; best possible speed." He didn't raise his voice but the unmistakable the whip of command was evident in his tone.

Laura Jacobs, the helmsman quickly brought up a star chart and did a number of complex equations before dropping _Enterprise_ out of warp, swinging her around and increasing her velocity from the standard cruising speed of warp 5.3 to warp 6.7; the highest speed the starship could sustain for a prolonged period of time.

"Estimated time until arrival?"

Laura noticed that the Captain's voice seemed to come from directly over her shoulder despite him remaining in the command chair, it was a trick he was known to use to keep his people focused on their tasks. "At present velocity... fourteen days."

He spared her a quick nod before refocusing on Hoshi. "Commander, I need you to get me Starfleet Command immediatly and transfer them to my ready room. T'Pol the bridge is yours."

He left the bridge and Hoshi hastened to comply, as she did she felt a presence over her, she looked up to see the slim figure of Commander T'Pol, her lover and partner of the past few months bodily shielding her from the rest of the bridge. The Vulcan's normally stern face had softened somewhat.

"Are you alright?" her normally soft voice was barely audible.

Hoshi nodded somewhat jerkily and whispered back. "I'm fine."

From T'Pol's point of view this was a blatant falsehood. She knew her _t'hy'la _(the Vulcan word for soul mate) well enough to not only tell when she was being dishonest but she recognized the various physical signs Hoshi would fail to notice she gave off that indicated something was troubling her. The most obvious being the way she had faltered when delivering the transmission from Starfleet.

For a moment she vaguely considered pointing out these details to Hoshi; in the past that had not only elicited an emotional response from Hoshi but more importantly caused her to share her problems. That being said though the bridge, during the middle of Alpha Shift, in the presence of their crewmates was neither the time nor place to have such a discussion.

She would let it go...for now.

"Very well Commander, as you were."

Hoshi watched T'Pol stride over and assume the center seat feeling a mixture of guilt and relief, guilt that she had been less than honest with her partner and relief that T'Pol hadn't pursued her inquiry any further.

She held no illusion that this was nothing but a temporary reprieve, the moment she and T'Pol had a moment alone she knew her _t'hy'la_ would bring up the subject again. Only when she did Hoshi couldn't hide behind the shield of being on duty. But hopefully by then she'd have a better idea of what was going on and she could have something more concrete to go on than her fears.

What she hadn't told T'Pol was that she was familiar with Dragus, she had spent a number of her summers there as a teenager with her eccentric and free-spirited Aunt Rin. Rin's natural cheeriness and lax nature was a direct (and in her teenage mind's case, a welcome) change from her stricter parents. It had been Rin who had encouraged her to apply to Starfleet, despite her mother desperately wanting her to be a pianist. If it hadn't been for Rin she might have been playing for sold out crowds in concert halls, instead of living out on the final frontier with the love of her life. The life she now knew she was meant to lead.

In of itself Dragus wasn't particularly interesting or impressive, it was a primarily agrarian planet on the so called 'boarder lands'; and despite being slightly larger than Earth it only boasted a small population of 30,000 or so.

And with over 10,000 dead, there was a distinct possibility Rin was among them.

She fought down the lump in her throat, held back the tears that were threatening to fall and instead concentrated on her duties. She contacted Starfleet and patched the transmission to the Captain's ready room, once that was done she attempted to access Dragus's planetary database so she could instigate a search for her aunt. Unfortunately the entire system was down, with no indication it would be up anytime soon; unsurprising given the thousands of concerned family members who were bound to be trying to find any news about their loved ones. Resisting the urge to slam her fist into the console she thought furiously about how to circumvent the problem when an idea came to her.

What she needed was information and currently nobody would have more information about what was happening on Dragus than Starfleet. There was a possibility that they would transfer a list of casualties to Hunter and that would tell her more than any search through the planetary database would. As the comm. officer she was one of the few people onboard the ship that could intercept and monitor a transmission without leaving any trace behind that she had done so.

She knew what the consequences were; intercepting a classified message on a secure frequency without clearance from the ship's commanding officer was a _major _breach of protocol and subject to a court martial, imprisonment in the brig and a dishonorable discharge from Starfleet. Intercepting a message meant _for _the ship's C.O. for no reason other than to give her peace of mind would likely see her shipped off to a penal colony for a sentence of ten to twenty years along with the aforementioned disciplinary actions.

To compound the situation was the fact that she respected Captain Hunter and even though she was desperate for details, the thought of violating his privacy left a sour taste in her mouth.

She sat indecisive for a minute, her hand hovering just above the key commands before her thirst for knowledge overruled her discipline and she decided to go for it. (Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view) the door to the ready room opened and Hunter reappeared on the bridge; she had missed her opportunity.

"Senior staff meeting in five minutes." called Hunter before he flipped open his communicator and repeated the message twice more. And although she told herself she was imagining it and was just feeling guilty for what she had been about to do, she could have sworn the Captain paused and looked at her with a disappointed expression before moving off to the conference room.

At the meeting everyone could almost see the tension in the room; the only people whom didn't at least have preliminary knowledge of what had happened were Dr. Sveck and Lieutenant Commander LaForge. Neither had been present when Hoshi had relayed the transmission from Starfleet, but both were acutely aware of the tense atmosphere.

"What I'm about to tell you all has only been cleared for Captain's and flag officers, the reason I'm telling you all this is that the Federation is in grave danger." He looked them all in the eye before continuing. "So everything said in today's meeting is to go no further than these walls, that extends to personal and official logs. Is that understood?" They all nodded and the tension in the room kicked up a level or two.

The irony that he was freely sharing what Starfleet had told him was not lost on Hoshi, who felt white-hot shame for what she had been about to do. And the lack of trust it showed in her C.O., she should've known that if there was anything they needed to know and if it was at all possible he'd tell them.

"The disaster at Dragus wasn't caused by am antimatter plant containment failure like Starfleet will begin releasing to the media, but rather an attack. Before Dragus's planetary defense grid went down its black box managed to record an Altarian ship dropping out of warp on the far side of Dragus's primary moon; the ship in question then deployed a salvo of five long range torpedoes. Approximately three minutes later the defense grid experienced a power surge and went down." He took a momentary pause and seemed to be getting ready to deliver a bombshell.

"Preliminary readings suggest that the torpedo's worked in a three stage process, with the first stage powering down the defense grid, the second was a deployment of a unknown compound into the upper atmosphere and finally a detonation of the warheads, which seems to have ignited the compound and...burned away 36.4% of the atmosphere. We know that the Altarian's government has vehemently denied any-"

Hoshi's stomach felt like the bottom had dropped out, a fire bomb, someone had basically hit Dragus with a huge fire bomb, she was so focused on that she missed several of Hunter's next words.

"-estimated there to be about 18,000 survivors, they are being evacuated as we speak. Naturally Starfleet has launched a full scale investigation into the Altarians claims but Admiral Black doesn't believe that is necessary. Assuming that the Altarians are telling the truth about having no knowledge of any ships in that area leaves the two possibilities. A splinter group of Altarians against their talks with the Federation council went on a unauthorized mission and attacked Dragus to derail talks, in all honesty that seems highly unlikely with the fact of any group claiming responsibility or demanding Altaria withdraw talks. The second possibility should be familiar to anyone serving with Starfleet for over six years, a species that seizes control of ships remotely and use them to plant seeds of distrust among allies, in this case by bombing a colony."

Khan looked grim. "The Romulans."

He spared his security officer a quick glance. "My thoughts exactly Lieutenant, in the years leading up to the Romulan War several similar ships were seen throughout various sectors that could mimic the properties of various species vessels. The most infamous of these encounters was when one of these ships made it seem as if the Andorians had attacked the Tellerites and threatened to destabilize the quadrant and derail the talks of the then Coalition of Planets. Fortunately intervention came at the hands of the _NX-01 _and Captain Archer who managed to discover the Romulan vessel being controlled telepathically by the _Aenar_." He glanced over at Hoshi and T'Pol briefly before continuing. "It is imperative, now so more than ever that we find some sort of solid evidence to tie the Romulans not only to this last attack but the one that took place near the Neutral Zone, so while we are providing relief at Dragus we will also be conducting discreet searches, including interviewing any survivors. We need to stop them before they have a chance to deploy this weapon against anymore planets."

T'Pol indicated she would like to ask a question and he nodded at her. "Have the Romulans taken credit for the attack?"

Hunter shook his head. "Not officially, but I believe that they are the most likely candidate for such an attack."

T'Pol pressed on. "But there is a possibility that they are not responsible, it could be another species such as the Klingon's."

"I doubt it. I don't see the Klingon's as using these types of cloak and dagger tactics; they tend to favor a more brazen style of combat. But even if it is the Klingon's we need to find some evidence, one way or the other, in the mean time I want you, Lieutenant Khan and Commander LaForge to go over the logs Starfleet sent with a fine tooth comb. See if you can find anything H.Q. might have missed. Doctor Sveck we may be expected to take on casualties when we arrive at Dragus so make sure sickbay is prepared, you have my permission to use any personal or ship resources you may need. Hoshi I need you to keep monitoring all the Starfleet distress frequencies, if there are any new updates notify me immediately. Ensign Jacobs I want you to work with Stellar Cartography and see if you can find any way to get us to Dragus any faster. You all have your orders, dismissed."

They all filed out the room talking amongst themselves, with the exception of Hoshi whose face told an interesting tale of conflicting emotions, it was time to get to the bottom of this situation. Acting quickly T'Pol quickly whispered something into Hunter's ear who nodded and vacated the room, that accomplished she called out to the retreating form of her partner. "Commander Sato a moment please."

Given the fact that they were alone the formal address threw Hoshi for a loop and she stopped at the edge of the door letting everyone pass her before turning around and heading back to the table.

"Yes?"

"We need to talk Hoshi, something is bothering you and-"

Hoshi cut across her sharply. "It's nothing T'Pol." She paused for a moment before continuing in a gentler tone. "What I meant was I don't want to talk about it right now, but I promise once I figure some stuff out I'll let you know what's going on."

T'Pol nodded satisfied that her partner would indeed follow through on that promise. "I am only concerned about your welfare and want you to know I wish to help you in any way possible."

Her partner's words warmed her heart and threatened to make the tears, that were already close to the surface overwhelm her. "Thank you sweetheart, just knowing you're there for me means more than you could possibly know." She reached over gave her partner a gentle kiss on the lips, placed her hand on the side of T'Pol's face and looked deeply into beautiful hazel eyes. "I love you." Not waiting for a response she exited the conference room leaving T'Pol to ponder the situation alone.

_10:07 am August 28th 2166_

Thanks to a shortcut through a nebula found by Stellar Cartography and piloted by Ensign Jacobs _Enterprise _managed to arrive at Dragus nearly three days ahead of their projected time. However despite their early arrival the rescue efforts had all but ceased by the time they had arrived; despite that a large number of Starfleet vessels remained in the sector, over forty in all.

The day following their arrival Captain Hunter and T'Pol were off the ship having been summoned to a classified briefing which had left Hoshi in command, not that there had been anything to do anyway.

At the moment she was giving a valiant effort at staying awake, over the past few days she had not been able to sleep well, what with worry being her constant nocturnal companion. She had yet to find any news regarding her Aunt Rin she had even called home and asked her parents who were just as concerned as she was, and despite her earlier promise to T'Pol she hadn't told her _t'hy'la_ anything about the cause for her insomnia, lack of sexual drive or general moodiness, she sensed even T'Pol's vaunted patience was beginning to wear thin and it was only a matter of time before the Vulcan cornered her expecting an answer, so all things considered she was more than a little relived her partner wasn't onboard _Enterprise_. With any luck she might even be able to get more than a couple hours sleep, that pleasant thought made her eyes heavy and she decided to close them for just a moment.

Just as she was starting to slump over Ensign Cooke's voice snapped her out of her stupor. "Commander, we're receiving a distress call from a civilian ship."

Instantly she was wide awake as adrenalin flooded her body. "Location?"

"On the far side of Dragus's third moon, they are reporting structural failure and requesting an emergency evacuation."

"Are there any other ships in the area?"

Ensign Jacobs glanced down. "Affirmative Commander, one of our ships, the _Noble _is in the vicinity however itis over fifteen minutes out from the vessels current position. _ Enterprise _is in the best position to perform a rescue.

"Helm get us to that ship, full impulse. Lieutenant Tanner the moment we're in range begin transporting them to the cargo bay. Lieutenant Khan I need you to monitor the ship, if it is in imminent danger of blowing up raise the shields regardless of our status. Ensign Cooke relay a message to _Noble;_ tell them we are attempting a rescue and ask them to please standby in case we need them."

After they moved into position Tanner began to transport the crew onto _Enterprise, _the bridge was tense and it seemed to take an eternity before Tanner reported that all hands had been safely transported aboard.

"Back us off to a safe distance Ensign."

Jacobs complied and they all waited for the ship to go up in flames, but after several tense minutes it still floated there in one piece

"Lieutenant Tanner, what is the status of the ship?"

"One moment Commander." a silence followed in which she was presumably running a scan. "Uh...Commander I believe we we're mislead, the scans show the ship is in fine working order."

Hoshi felt simultaneously embarrassed and on her guard, embarrassed that she hadn't thought to order a simple scan instead of jumping in with both feet, and on her guard that she had let potential hostiles on the ship. "Lieutenant Khan secure the cargo bay."

To his credit Khan didn't say or indicate his opinion about her handling of the situation, he merely nodded and jogged to the turbo lift.

Hoshi tried not to let the failure get to her, even though she was sure T'Pol, Hunter or Khan for that matter would have ordered a scan prior to beaming people onto the ship.

She just hoped it wasn't a fatal mistake.

"Khan to bridge."

"Bridge here Lieutenant."

"Commander please report to the cargo bay."

His voice didn't carry any tension or wariness, in fact if she had been pressed she would say he sounded...amused. "On my way."

When she strode through the door several minutes later it all became clear. A woman with brown hair past her shoulders was struggling to free herself from a rather large security officer who didn't even seem to notice her attempts to break his grip. Almost instantly she recognized the woman having seen her on _Newstime_ countless times and having actually met her twice in person, once on the _NX-01_ during a layover at Earth and again at the founding ceremony of the Federation. Neither time had she been particularly impressed and furthermore despite Travis repeatedly singing this woman's praises, Hoshi had failed to understand his infatuation with this woman.

But then again she mused wryly, most people wouldn't understand what she and T'Pol saw in each other either.

"Gannet Brooks."

The woman stopped struggling at the mention of her name and frowned at Hoshi as if trying to place her face. "I know you, you're Travis's friend um...Sato right?"

Hoshi nodded, impressed that the reporter had bothered to remember her name.

"Can you tell this buffoon to let me go?"

Hoshi nodded to the security officer whom promptly released the disgruntled woman. She made a show of straightening her black leather jacket before scowling over at Khan. "I want my camera back."

Before the Security Chief could reply Hoshi stepped in front of him and the reporter immediately focused on her. "Gannet what are you doing?"

"What do you mean," she glanced at Hoshi's uniform. "Commander?"

Hoshi had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Gannet may have been an ace reporter but she was a terrible actor, the innocent routine didn't work for her at all. "Hmm...let's see faking a distress call in the middle of a crisis in a no fly zone, does that ring any bells?

Gannet had the grace to look somewhat ashamed. "Oh yeah that." she said sheepishly.

Hoshi turned to her thus far silent companions. "And how did she manage to convince you all to go along with this harebrained scheme? A spot on the 10 o' clock news?"

The one who looked to be the leader nodded his head eagerly and this time Hoshi actually _did _roll her eyes. "Do you realize I can have you all arrested for this?"

"Gannet's eyes widened in disbelief. "You wouldn't."

Hoshi matched her gaze for several seconds before finally shaking her head. "No but only because Travis cares about you so much. But I do want to know why you faked a distress call."

Gannet ran her hair through her hair. "Can I speak to your Captain?"

"He's not onboard." She placed her hands on her hips; a subtle warning to Gannet that she was on thin ice and needed to start cooperating.

Gannet shook her head. "After all that effort...so are you in charge then?"

Hoshi nodded.

"Well then can I speak to you...alone?"

Hoshi left Khan in charge of the conn with orders to tell the _Noble _to stand down. He nodded then gestured to the burly security officers who took up position on either side of the cargo bay door.

Hoshi gestured for Gannet to follow her. "I'm gonna need some coffee if we're going to be talking." she said by way of explanation.

The reporter looked around the ship in undisguised fascination as they made their way to the mess hall and Hoshi was sure she was already mentally filing her report. After several sips of the brew Hoshi stared at Gannet. "Okay let's have it."

"I was trying to get an interview, A source of mine told that what happened on Dragus was caused by some kind of weapon, not that 'containment failure' line Starfleet is trying to feed everyone and I need corroboration. And I figured that since your Captain has connections that he might be willing to go on record. "

"But why go through all this trouble, why not just send a hail?"

"I've tried that with the seventeen other Captains already, Hunter was my last chance and I got a little desperate. But I know my source, he's never lead me wrong before. If he says Dragus was hit with some kind of weapon, then it's what's happened...period. What I can't figure out is why Starfleet is trying to bury this; people need to know if they're in danger. "

Despite herself Hoshi's eyes widened momentarily in surprise at the amount of information the reporter possessed, it was at that moment she saw Gannet's eyes light up and grin triumphantly.

Gannet had been baiting and steering her the entire time and she had blindly followed along like a sheep. If she hadn't been so damn tired she might have seen it coming.

Almost desperately she affected a bored tone. "Really Gannet a weapon? I haven't heard anything like that. Maybe you should check your source's reliability."

Gannet smirked not buying the clumsy rebuttal for a minute. "Nice try, but you're a horrible liar Commander. Why are they _really _trying to cover up an attack?"

Hoshi leaned forward abandoning any pretense of denial (no matter how flimsy) and stared at Gannet intently. "Listen Gannet, you need to stop digging for information and just let it alone."

Gannet leaned forward as well, although her manner was excited as opposed to Hoshi's more grim bearing. "I can't do that Commander, the people have a right to know what's going on, who does the weapon belong to? The Klingons, Tholians, Orions, Suliban, Romulans?" She gasped in sudden shock. "Does it belong to the Federation?"

Hoshi looked baffled "Are you crazy? Why would the Federation be testing weapons on one of its own _occupied _planet's instead of at the weapon proving grounds at Proxima Centauri?"

After a minute the reporter frowned. "Hmm... I suppose your right, well who does it belong to then?"

Hoshi's voice lowered further in an attempt to convey the seriousness of the situation. "Gannet, if you go to press with this, a lot of people are gonna get in trouble, the least of which is me and you'll compromise an ongoing Starfleet's investigation."

Unfortunately her words seemed to have no effect other than to strength Gannet's resolve. "Are you kidding? This could be the biggest cover up since the Dulnor incident of 2104!"

"Damn it think about this for a second! How do you think people will react if it gets out that the Romulans managed to penetrate into the Federation and detonated a new weapon that burns off planet's atmosphere's especially so soon after the war?"

Gannet's eyes widened at the Commander's slip of the tongue, but it seemed Sato was on a roll and either didn't notice her blunder or didn't care.

"Let me tell you, it'll be worse than the panic after the _Kyobishi Maru_ was destroyed or when the Xindi attacked Earth. There is a lot more going on here than your expose; people's lives are at stake!"

That more than anything else Sato said gave her pause, she could care less about some 'Starfleet investigation' but innocent lives was another matter completely.

She had covered both incidents and they had caused a major public panic, the latter resulting in increased xenophobic movements, the most infamous being the Terra Nova movement which had nearly succeeded in seizing the solar system and blowing up Starfleet Command and a large portion of San Francisco. While the former had not only given Starfleet a black eye that it was some ten years later still trying to recover from, but had signaled the escalating of tensions between the Romulans and The Coalition of Planets (the future Federation). But on the other hand, this directly opposed who Gannet was as a reporter; above all else she believed that the people always had a right to know what was going on in respect to their lives, regardless whether it involved the United Earth Sphere Government or Military Assault Command Operation's (M.A.C.O's) or Starfleet.

On the other hand Sato _had_ just given her a free pass and she knew that if she pushed too hard Sato probably _would_ have her arrested.

She would concede...for now.

Grudgingly she nodded. "Fine, I'll keep it quiet...but if I get wind Starfleet's going to say anything, I'm going to press first."

Hoshi nearly passed out from relief. "Fair enough."

"What a waste, looks like I maxed out my chit for nothing." Gannet muttered and shook her head ruefully.

suddenly an idea came to her. "Gannet, how long have you been here, at Dragus I mean?"

"About a day before the attack, I was on my way to cover the talks between the Federation and Altaria ironically enough."

"Well then it'd be safe to assume you have a pretty good bead on the in's and out's going on here right?"

Gannet practically sniffed at the question. "Listen toots, when _I'm_ on the scene I _always_ have a good bead on what's going on."

Hoshi ignored the verbal jab. "Well then maybe you can help me find some info on someone staying on Dragus, her name is Rin Igasa, I've tried doing searches in all the databases but I can't find anything."

"That's not surprising, those things are worthless, and who is she an old friend?"

"She's my Aunt."

Gannet's visage softened somewhat. "I'll see what I can do, but you owe me a solid."

Hoshi nodded. "Done, let's get you back to your ship and out of here."

Gannet smiled and inclined her cup. "Thanks for the coffee."

Shortly thereafter Gannet and the crew of the ship were transported back to their vessel and Hoshi plopped back into the center chair feeling just as exhausted as earlier. She blinked, but her eyes felt gritty, the coffee she had consumed earlier seemed to be having no effect and her eyes seemed to be closing of their own violation. She didn't fight it, she'd been up for more hours than she could remember and taking a moment to regain her footing sounded like a spectacular idea...

Her eyes snapped open to see she was no longer on the bridge, but laying in sickbay. She sat up and an alarm went off, a moment later it was shut off by Dr. Sveck.

The Russian man smiled brightly. "Good to see your awake Commander."

She felt a sinking sensation in her gut, but she managed to keep her tone neutral. "What am I doing in sickbay doctor?"

"You fell asleep."

Hoshi groaned having feared that, she supposed it was too much to hope some unknown and unseen alien weapon had knocked her out. She swung her feet around to get off the bed but was forestalled by Sveck putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Not so fast, you are severely sleep deprived, and it's begun to affect you're performance, as a precaution I've relieved you of duty for the next 72 hours."

Hoshi felt a startling mix of shame and anger at this news. Not only had she fallen asleep in front of her crewmates, and probably carried off the bridge like a baby but reports would undoubtedly be filed and sent to both T'Pol and the Captain.

She thought she could already see what Khan's report would look like:

_Commander Sato in her current condition possess a danger to the ship in her current state, it is my recommendation that she be relieved until such a time that Doctor Sveck sees fit to reinstate her._

And the good Doctor wouldn't be much better:

_Commander Sato is suffering from acute stress syndrome and as a result is experiencing sleep deprivation, it is my belief as Chief Medical Officer that she should be relived for a period of 72 hours to recuperate and be tested, and pending the results of the test she will be reinstated._

Then after all of that Hunter would want to meet with her to discuss what was going on with her and to make sure she was still up to serving as the second officer, he might even offer to cut back her hours for a while.

Worst of all she would have to deal with T'Pol. Her _t'hy'la_ would sit her down and after making sure she was fine would want to sit and talk until they got to the source of Hoshi's insomnia, at which point they would spend time talking about various solutions and how they could best apply those solutions. Worst of all she would do it in her painstakingly logical manner which she normally loved but now seemed like the worst kind of torture.

And of course throughout this entire process all she would really want to do was to curl up in a ball and sleep for the next 4 years or so.

"Commander?"

With a start she realized Sveck had still been talking to her. "I'm sorry Doctor, what did you say?"

"How long has it been since you last slept through the night?" He repeated patiently

"A week maybe, I'm not sure." She mumbled while looking at the floor.

He ran a scanner over her. "I see, and since that time, what's the longest you've slept in a night?"

"Maybe two hours."

"Hmm, your exhibiting all the signs of mild to moderate sleep denervation: lack of focus, sluggishness, irritability, dilated veins beneath your eyes, visible capillaries in your sclera, and slowed reactions and mental processing."

She almost burst out in hysteric laughter when he said 'mild to moderate'. She was so tired her body _ached_ for sleep, if this was moderate she'd hate to see severe. In fact it was probably the sleep deprivation that was causing her odd reaction.

That thought managed to sober her up and quell any further desire to laugh.

Sveck continued on, unaware of Hoshi's brief lapse. "Fortunately this happened at a non-critical time and we can began treating it. I'm going to prescribe a sedative to take home with you. Although I'd prefer that you sleep naturally if you can't I don't want you to hesitate to use it. I'm going to check on you and if you haven't gotten enough sleep in three days, I'll have to remove you from command, understand?"

"Perfectly." she said sullenly as she accepted the hypo spray. The fact that she was being forced to take a sedative stung at her pride and just added another layer of unpleasantness to the situation.

He handed her a loaded hypo spray. "The dosage is set; all you have to do is inject it. See you in three days."

"I'm looking forward to it." she muttered darkly as the sickbay doors slid open.

A few minutes later she was stepping through the doors to her quarters and was surprised to see T'Pol standing in the middle of the room.

"Are you feeling alright Hoshi?"

For some reason the concern she saw on T'Pol's face was annoying her. "I'm fine, why?" she asked shortly.

"Lieutenant Khan informed me of what happened while the Captain and I were meeting with Commodore James."

She could feel her cheeks burning at that information. Although logically she knew that T'Pol would have been filled in by Khan, that didn't curb the sting of the embarrassment she felt. "Well, there was no reason to cut your meeting short just to check on me, that doesn't seem very logical." Hoshi said crankily.

T'Pol's eyebrow rose at the jab but otherwise didn't acknowledge it. "I did not leave early, the meeting concluded several hours ago."

Hoshi glanced at the chronometer on the wall and saw with a start it was well past 2200 hours; she had slept through most of Alpha shift and half of Beta...and she was _still_ exhausted. And a larger part of her than she would have liked to admit thought that maybe Sveck had the right idea putting her off duty for a few days although that realization only served to increase her agitation. "I feel fine T'Pol, and before you ask, no I don't want to talk about it."

"Hoshi you need to-"

"No! I don't need to do anything but go to sleep, I just got out of sickbay an you want to give me a lecture on what I do and don't need to talk about. Jesus can you just leave me alone for a while? Can you do that and just leave me alone?"

She regretted saying it almost immediately after the words were uttered, but she couldn't un-say them.

What looked like anger and contempt passed across T'Pol's features? "You want space Hoshi? Take all the space you need, I'm _done_ trying to help you." She waved her hands for emphasis. "Come find me when you're ready to grow up and face your problems." With that she turned on her heel and stalked out of the quarters.

Hoshi was shocked; arguing with a Vulcan was an exercise in futility and tended to make one feel as foolish as if arguing with a wall. She and T'Pol didn't argue often but when they did her temper would get the best of her and she'd yell at which point T'Pol would either: watch her calmly and wait for her temper to subside, or make her point in a cool logical voice.

She never used such an angry tone, she never displayed so much emotion and she certainly never stormed off.

It seemed even T'Pol had her limits and if that reaction was any indication she had hit them quite nicely. Part of her wanted to go after her partner and apologize profusely and beg her to come back and hold her until she fell asleep. She realized her partner was only looking out for her best interest and she had lashed out at her for no reason making a bad situation worse. But her frustration and pride wouldn't let her go after T'Pol.

So instead she stood in the center of the living area feeling guilty, miserable and desperately wishing to feel nothing at all.

Instead of feeding the part of her that craved T'Pol's touch she pulled out the Doctor's hypo spray and injected herself with a dose of the sedative. A few moments later she could feel it take effect, as her eyelids grew heavy she sat down on the couch and without even bothering to get undressed fell asleep.

_Earlier that evening_

T'Pol and Hunter were seated in the conference room of the _U.S.S Einstein _along with from the looks of it most of the active duty captains in Starfleet awaiting the beginning of a critical meeting. Upon taking their seats T'Pol had realized she was one of only three first officers present, the rest of the Captains had evidently opted to come alone. She was inwardly pleased by the statement of trust Hunter had accorded her by bringing her along.

The door slid open and admitted Commodore Marshal James. From what she had read of James he had risen to authority during the Earth-Romulan war for his brilliant work in tactics. This included orchestrating a huge win for the allied forces at the battle of Tabor IV.

James had dull gray eyes and a gleaming bald head, much like a Vulcan he had upswept eyebrows that gave him a sinister appearance and to complete his image a carefully groomed black mustache framed his square jaw.

Captain Hunter had described him as 'someone you'd want to have your back in a fire fight'.

T'Pol wasn't much for such sentiments but even she had to agree with Hunter's assessment, James exuded an aura of quiet competence and deadliness. She had experienced a similar air given off by the mysterious assassins sometimes employed by the _V'Shar_.

James took his seat at the head of the table and eyed every other person in the room for a moment before pressing a button on the PADD he had been carrying. Immediately the view screen on the far wall activated, and Admiral Black's face appeared.

Almost as if they were sharing the same thought everyone sat up straighter in their seats (except T'Pol and James, whose postures were already perfect).

In his customary manner Black wasted little time with pleasantries and as T'Pol observed him she noticed he had a strained look about him.

_"Some of you may not be aware but a number of months ago the Enterprise was deployed to the Neutral Zone in order to oversee the construction of a number of outposts along our side of the border. While there a group of Nausicaans attacked the construction teams and it was found that they had been outfitted with Romulan neural transceivers. Despite evidence of their involvement some members of Starfleet felt that this was a random coincidence and wasn't worth stirring the Romulans again." _

His voice had hardened make it perfectly clear to all present he hadn't been one of the ones who was in favor of ignoring the connection.

_"Then just two months ago our flagship was attacked by a group of drone ships, making it the third such attack reported within a two week period. The other two starships; U.S.S Livingston and U.S.S Connecticut were unfortunately lost with all hands. Enterprise however managed to not only survive but destroyed the drone vessels. When the report from Captain Hunter came in I suspected Romulan involvement, and I requested his crew ran a metallurgical analysis against known Romulan starship alloys to confirm my suspicions. Unfortunately the manner in which the drone vessels were destroyed made running such a test rather difficult, however the results came back as a positive match to within 83%. All that evidence coupled with the attack on Dragus has finally convinced the remaining Admirals that at the very least this is a matter Starfleet should investigate more thoroughly."_

"What 10,000 dead civilians is one to many coincidence's for the guys up top?" James asked with disparaging sarcasm.

The room held its collective breath at that statement, and some of the Captain's had disbelieving looks on their faces at not only the sheer boldness of the question but the way it had been framed to the Admiral.

If possible Black's cold answer increased their shock even more. _"Yes Commodore, that's more or less the case." _Silence followed Black's statement and the tension in the room kicked up another couple of notches. The Admiral and Commodore stared each other down for several moments before to Hunter's surprise Black relented first; as Black looked away he thought he saw something that shockingly looked like guilt in Black's eye's.

There was something there, a rift of some kind between James and Black. It almost seemed like an old wound that the situation with Dragus had re-opened. He wondered briefly if T'Pol noticed it as well or if it was his imagination but Black began talking again and any other such thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind.

_"Before I go I'd like to observe a moment of silence for Captain Slater, Captain Lee and their respective crews." _

Everyone observed Black's request and after a few minutes the Admiral nodded to James before his face was replaced with the olive branches and star field of the Federation, signaling the transmission was over.

James took over smoothly. "I'd now like to direct all your attentions to Captain Dara Lynche who will be presenting you all with the other part of this briefing."

All eyes turned to the other end of the table where a short round woman with cropped blond hair was sitting in a previously empty seat. She must have entered surreptitiously sometime when Black was talking. Her uniform of black and grey marked her as a Starfleet Intelligence officer, and although she gave off a friendly vibe and looked rather harmless, Hunter was instantly on his guard.

He knew enough from his...mixed personal history with S.I officer's to be weary when dealing with them. On the whole he treated S.I much like he did a new and potentially hostile species; namely with extreme caution.

"Hi everyone, I'd like to start by telling you all what we managed to find out about the attack and then you all can ask any questions if I managed to leave anything out. At exactly 08:13 hours Dragus's planetary defense grid detected an unknown inbound object approaching at approximately 82% the speed of light from vector 227-18. The grid then as per protocol obtained a targeting lock and armed it's orbital platforms, however before the platforms could destroy the object they and the grid experienced catastrophic failure and went down for exactly seven hours. When the backup systems re-activated a distress signal was sent out, fortunately the _Apollo_ was close by and respond to the call. After a survey that showed Dragus's atmosphere was being burned off, Captain Nelson sent a message to Starfleet Command and began to evacuate as many civilians as possible. Starfleet command brought in every available resource to assist with the evacuation and that brings us to today, are there any questions?'

Captain Carla Robinson raised her hand and Lynche inclined her head. "Do we know what the weapon looks like or what it's capabilities are?"

Lynche nodded. "No to the first and yes to the second, from the information collected by _Apollo _and the defense grid's black box we've been able to conclude that the culprit is a long range torpedo housing an illegal substance commonly known as 376 on the black market. It's chemical name however is Zuertrinium, it's designed to burn off a planet's atmosphere, and if deployed is both fast acting and virtually undetectable until after it's done its job. We know that the chemicals involved are fairly volatile and have to be stored in Perneesium cases prior to being deployed, and luckily Perneesium gives off a very distinct quantum signature so it should be fairly easy to find the weapons components and destroy them. It is also rather hard to refine this stuff so the supply should be relatively small; we're estimating less than 100,000 liters."

As he listened to Lynche, Hunter wondered if anyone else noticed that during her explanation she had dropped her earlier affable manner and had adopted the hardened steely tone of an experienced S.I operative.

Robert Bates frowned. "You said this Zuertrinium is fast acting just how fast are we talking?"

"Assuming that the intent was to kill the entire population and accounting for various weather conditions, under less than ideal circumstances... on a planet the size Earth maybe twelve hours. In contrast it took Dragus seventeen hours to sustain its damage, although it should have only taken maybe 2/3 of that. We suspect the proper mixture hasn't yet been obtained which is truthfully the only reason we managed to save so many people."

"So just to clarify you're saying that the Zuertrinium bomb was a _failure_?" Bates asked disbelievingly.

"In the manner in which it was supposed to preform...yes."

A palpable chill went around the room. If a properly calibrated Zuertrinium bomb were deployed on Earth, evacuating the entire population in less than twelve hours wasn't possible, even if Starfleet and every ship in the sector pooled their resources the fact of the matter was hundreds of millions would die.

Lynche continued on, seemingly ignorant of the effect her statement had caused. "Starfleet Intelligence has compiled a list of the most likely place's such a weapon could be obtained from

our list of known weapon manufacturing facilities. Unfortunately there are ten sites in all so we're re-deploying fifty vessels to find out where the Zuertrinium came from so we can stop it before another planet like Dragus is taken advantage of. In the meantime we're locking down all trade and freight lines in and out of the Sol system and re-deploying an additional twenty six vessels to protect strategic locations. Your individual deployment orders will be sent to you via secure transmission by 0800 tomorrow morning."

"This sounds like we're going to war all over again." Robinson muttered in dismay.

Commodore James locked her with his piercing stare. We're not going to war Captain, we're trying to _stop_ another one from being waged. So pray we find these bastards before another planet is attacked, because if that does happen, I can guarantee you the next step _will_ be an all-out war. Dismissed."

The Commodore's words seemed to hang over them all as they got up and left the conference table. Hunter stalked out the room and T'Pol hurried to keep up with him, as she did she observed him discreetly. To any casual observer Hunter would look grim and perhaps determined, but she could tell by his posture and the way his jaw was set (not to mention years of personal experience with another certain Starfleet Captain) that he had taken responsibility for the attack on Dragus. Probably in the belief that if he had just worked a _little _harder, pushed a _little _more he could have stopped the Romulans before this had happened.

A noble if erroneous and illogical thought process, but one that seemed to be part and parcel of being a Starfleet Captain. She knew that the next few days and weeks would be hard, Hunter would most likely push himself and the crew to their limits and beyond attempting to bring those responsible to justice.

As his number one she would have to monitor the situation to make sure his determination didn't stray into the dark and dangerous waters of obsession.

They stepped onto the transporter and a moment later they were stepping off of _Enterprise's_ pad. Almost immediately her communicator chirped and she flipped it open. "T'Pol here."

Lieutenant Khan's even tones issued from the tiny communicator. "Commander, I need to discuss something important with you, can I meet you at your office?"

"On my way." she closed her communicator and headed to the turbo lift, at the second junction Hunter excused himself for dinner with a brief goodbye leaving her alone.

Once she disembarked on deck two she headed to her office, rounding a corner she saw Khan and knew from one look at his bearing she wouldn't like what he had to say...she was right.

Ten minutes later she was leaving her office, in concern for her partner.

An hour after that she was standing in Hoshi's quarters waiting for her to arrive home from sickbay. When her _t'hy'la_ did arrive she was treated her with an alarming amount of anger and frustration.

T'Pol had tried to be reasonable and talk to Hoshi, and her partner had just clamed up and when she pressed a little harder Hoshi snapped and told T'Pol to leave her alone.

Her tone mixed with T'Pol's own growing frustration with her partner's steadfast refusal to talk about whatever was obviously still bothering her, especially given the recent heart-to-heart they had regarding their relationship during leave caused her emotion's to boil over. And before she quite knew what was happening she was standing alone in the corridor. She took a moment to compose herself before heading to her quarter's; she knew now wasn't the time to have the discussion she and her _t'hy'la_ needed to resolve their issues.

Especially given Hoshi's current state of mind...and her own current level of frustration. She decided to spend the night meditating; perhaps she could find a way to better approach her partner.

For the rest of the evening T'Pol's only companion was the hard deck plating and her own thoughts.

_2:11 pm August 29th 2166_

_Enterprise's _Chief Engineer Senford LaForge was laying underneath a series of duranium pipes with a scanner in one hand and an open engineer kit within arm's reach; a level three diagnostic run at the beginning of Alpha shift it had discovered that the injector assembly flow rate was running a bit slow. With customary efficiency it had only taken him a few hours to trace the problem back to a junction on the lower deck of Engineering and he was currently working to correct the error.

He was about to reach for his hyper spanner when he heard a commotion coming from his right. Frowning in irritation he pulled himself from underneath the maze of pipes, stood and jogged over to see two junior crewmen talking to Sarnovia Lyatna.

The sight of Sarnovia confused him somewhat, so he addressed them all as a group. "What's going on?"

One of the crewmen turned to him. "We were telling Ms. Lyatna that this was a secure area of the ship and she wasn't allowed in here without proper clearance."

The moment he finished talking Sarnovia cut in, her hair was bright red. "I was bored and just wanted to take a look around that's all."

"Well Ms. Lyatna the thing is our warp technology is classified and-

"No offense Commander, but Su-Nian technology is _decades_ ahead of Starfleet's. Anything I saw in here wouldn't exactly be ground breaking."

LaForge considered the short alien woman for a moment (his engineer pride _was_ stung slightly be her remark even though he knew from hands on experience that she was right). Then there was the fact that a few weeks ago she had come to him and asked him to tell him anything he could about the Captain in an 'effort to get to know him better' on a recommendation from Hoshi.

After thinking of a proper way to repay Hoshi for making _him_ the one to deal with this situation,

he had told her some stories about various adventures he and Jackson had been on including a hilarious account of a pair of young lieutenants offending a group of Orion traders in a seedy bar and having to fight their way through a horde of their angry friends. Sarnovia had seemed genuinely pleased with his candidness and had thanked him profusely.

Not content to leave it there Senford had gone to his friend, and inquired about _his_ interest in the attractive alien, and although Jackson had tried to downplay his feelings Senford knew he was interested in the Su-Nian woman as well.

He was convinced they would eventually get together; the question was would it be a good relationship for his friend? In order to answer that he'd have to get to know this woman a little more and now might be a good opportunity to do so...even if it did somewhat go against regulations. Then again Senford had always followed his own set of rules and as the Chief Engineer he _did_ have a large say about what went on in his domain. Plus if he were in her position of being stuck on an alien vessel, with nothing to do he was sure he would be going space happy from the boredom and monotony.

"Okay Ms. Lyatna, you can have a look around, but you'll have to remain with me at all times, deal?"

She smiled and her hair became several shades brighter. "Deal."

The larger of the two crewman looked quizzically at LaForge. "But sir, Engineering is-"

Senford cut him off with a casual wave of the hand. "Yeah restricted I know, but Ms. Lyatna is right, the level of technology she's used to working with is more advance than anything we have here, and besides she'll be with me the whole time. And if there's any problems from the higher ups I'll take full responsibility, Ms. Lyatna if you'd follow me."

She fell in step behind him and although her statement about the respective differences in their species technological levels held true, she still marveled at the various going ones of the aliens around her. "You're ship is so large."

Senford smiled proudly. "Yep, the Challenger classes are currently the largest in Starfleet, I'm lucky I got this post, there are only eight of these beauties flying around. So since I still haven't been able to crack your database, from one engineer to another, what are Su-Nian vessel's like?"

"Generally speaking the corps prefer smaller ships, for example _Tonfar's Pride_ was a _Phinedu _class scout, those ships feature a crew of 34 fully staffed. There are larger ships as well though, the _Eniigus _and _Maetu _are both _Strient_ class carriers and feature crew complements in the thousands are the two largest ships in the corps, both are about fifteen or twenty times the size of _Enterprise. _Since there are only a handful _Strient _class ships in the fleet they are seen as the most prestigious postings and nearly impossible to get on."

Senford shook his head in amazement. "A crew of over a thousand? That's not a starship, that's a city! I can't even imagine working on a ship that big."

"Those ships are what got me interested in serving in the SGDC, I'd always imagined that If I worked hard enough, I could become a First Commander and offered one of my own." She laughed bitterly and her hair which had been nearly luminous was fast turning to a deep black-red color. "That was of course before I learned about that in the SGDC a 'female officer' isn't worth two _Elcshs_."

Although the Universal Translator generally didn't translate curse words just by going from the context of what she was saying Senford thought he had a pretty good idea of what that word meant.

"At this stage of my career I _should_ be a full major, perhaps even a colonel, but I doubt I can advance that far."

"What is your rank in the SGDC?"

"Lieutenant Major."

"That sounds impressive."

She snorted; whether in amusement, disgust or a combination of both he wasn't sure.

"The SGDC rank structure is a bit smaller than Starfleet's; we follow a 3-2-1-3 structure. By that I mean there are three grades of cadet, two grades of Major, one grade of Colonel and three grades of Commander. Equivalently my Starfleet rank would fall between a junior and full lieutenant."

They stopped and Senford got back on the floor and slid under the pipes. "Well if things don't work out with the SGDC, you could always join Starfleet."

"Thank you Commander but I don't think there is much Starfleet could offer me."

He heard the decision in her voice and frowned lightly. "You might be surprised about what Starfleet could give you," The sound of him grunting while adjusting the flow rate filled the silence for a moment. "Can you tell me what the numbers are on the console behind you are?"

She turned around. "Thirty five parts per million."

He slid out, stood up and smiled. "Perfect."

"Commander I wouldn't presume to tell you how to run your engines but if I may suggest, I've found that if you lower the flow rate to thirty parts per million and tie it directly into the secondary manifold you can increase engine output by nearly five percent."

Senford frowned as he mulled over what Sarnovia said and the alien woman taking it as disapproval was quick to offer an apology. "I'm sorry Commander, I was just-"

"No, it's a good idea, let's try it. I'll readjust the flow rate, you tie it in. The junction is right over there."

Several minutes later Senford took a reading with his scanner and nodded in satisfaction. "Great job, got any more fancy tricks?"

"Well I did see-"

He held up a hand and grabbed his kit, and tossed it to her. "Lead the way Wiz."

"Wiz?"

"It's a nickname for someone who's good at this sort of thing."

She considered it for a moment. "Wiz. I think I like it."

A few hours later Senford stood and wiped the sweat off his face with his uniform sleeve. During his time spent with Sarnovia he had not only gotten to know her better but he had become impressed at the level of her engineering skills. He wasn't convinced it was just because she was used to working with a higher level of technology either, but also because she possessed a level of intuitiveness and instinct that separated the decent run-of-the-mill engineers from the truly great ones. As he watched her head off to grab lunch he thought that he hadn't seen the

Alien in such fine spirits since perhaps her dance with Hunter. Since Sarnovia would be onboard for the foreseeable future with nothing to do he thought of bringing her down a couple times a week to pull a shift in Engineering if it would help with her disposition so much the better for her.

He told himself the fact that he was two hours ahead of schedule didn't carry any weight.

Grinning at the thought of Hunter's reaction when he would see the report and recommendation from his Chief Engineer Senford grabbed a P.A.D.D and got to work.

_8:00 am August_ _31st 2166_

Hoshi stepped onto the bridge, she was rested and had been reinstated by the doctor, he had given her a supply of the sedative she had been using for the past few days but warned her that the drug was only a temporary solution to her problem, and that she needed to get to the source of whatever it was that was disrupting her sleep cycle. Her crewmates all either smiled or nodded at her, with the exception of T'Pol who hadn't bothered to look up from her console.

Hoshi's heart fell; initially in her sleep deprived state telling T'Pol to get lost had seemed like a good idea, but as the three days had worn on and the silence of her mind seemed to press on her, she had not only missed T'Pol but had begun to crave her presence like a person in the desert needed water.

Sitting at the comm. station with a somewhat depressed air she inserted her earpiece and logged the terminal on, immediately she saw she had a number of private messages. Opening the first one she saw it was from the Captain, requesting a meeting with her tomorrow at the beginning of Alpha shift. Closing it she sighed, having already expected this, less than ten minutes back on the job and she was already wishing she was back in bed. She saw that the second message was a 'get well soon' from LaForge, the third and fourth were as well, they were from Jacobs and surprisingly Sarnovia.

Feeling better she looked down and saw the next message was from Gannet Brooks. It was marked as priority one and she hovered over it before deciding not to open it, if it contained bad news she didn't want to have another breakdown in front of the crew. A small beep issued into her ear and she saw she had a new message; this one was from...T'Pol. Turning around she saw the Vulcan frown as she punched something into a star chart. Swiveling back around she opened the message which was only four words long:

**How are you feeling?**

It was at that moment that Hoshi decided enough was enough, she was tired of all the conflict and she was tired of not having her greatest support system available to her, so she began to compose a response.

**Yes I am thank you. I need to talk to you in private about something important, would you be okay with meeting me in my quarters for lunch? I'd like a chance to apologize to you for how I've been acting over the past few weeks.**

She sent the message back to T'Pol and a moment later she could feel the Vulcan's stare on the back of her head before she heard another beep signaling a response.

**I will see you then.**

It wasn't exactly a message of her partner waiting with bated breath, but given her actions over the past few days it was as much as she could hope for. The rest of the shift seemed to drag on and on, there wasn't much in the way of happenings on, with the orders to stay at Dragus were in effect for another day, so she spent most of her time playing hangman with the comm. officer of the _Calypso_ whom was an old acquaintance from a brief lay over on Earth a number of years ago.

When the chronometer rolled to 1200 hours she practically leapt out of her seat and ran to the turbo lift, a moment later she was joined by the rest of the bridge crew minus the Captain who would wait for lunch until they returned. After riding the lift down and stepping off, Hoshi found her throat dry and an odd mix of anticipation and nerves in her stomach. Once T'Pol caught up to her she keyed in the access code and they both stepped into Hoshi's quarters.

"Why don't you have a seat and I'll have something whipped up in a minute." she said moving to the protein synthesizer.

T'Pol had a seat at the small dining table and watched as Hoshi bustled around the kitchenette, judging from her _th'y'las_ body language she was feeling nervous and awkward, perhaps it was time for some 'small talk' to ease the tension. "What is the name of the game you were playing on the bridge?"

"How did you know I was playing a game?" Hoshi asked over her shoulder.

"You sound surprised."

"I am I thought I had managed to cover my tracks pretty well."

"You did, however I know how you operate."

The thought made Hoshi smile. "I suppose you do, it's a word game called hangman by the way. I'll have to show you how to play it one day."

"I would appreciate that."

There was a brief pause before she cleared her throat. "Listen T'Pol, I'm sorry about the last few weeks, shutting you out and all, especially after all that talk we had about being more honest with each other. It's just I was-"

"Concerned about your Aunt's welfare." T'Pol finished for her.

Hoshi couldn't have been more stunned if her partner had suggested they should go for a spacewalk without EV suits on. "How...how did you-?"

"You told me about the summers you spent here with your Aunt Rin a number of months ago."

"You mean you've known the whole time?"

"No, at first the source of your distress was a mystery to me, however during my evening meditation after our disagreement I remembered the event in question. Prior to our argument you said that you 'needed to work some things out' and would talk to me when those things had become clear. It was obvious that you needed some space so I gave it to you and deduced you would talk to me about it at once you had 'cleared your head'."

She tried to remember the event in question but found she couldn't recall it. _Just one of the many joys of having a compromised memory._ she thought bitterly as she finished preparing their lunch of Soba noodles.

"Well thanks for giving me some space, I did need it and I probably wouldn't have been in the right frame of mind to deal with...well to much of anything. Anyway, did you know Gannet Brooks was onboard while you had your meeting?"

T'Pol nodded, having read Lieutenant Khan's report about the incident involving the reporter.

"Well her and I got to talking and-" she stopped dead realizing she had been about to reveal she had asked Gannet for help...after deliberately blowing T'Pol off for weeks. T'Pol the woman she supposedly was in love with, the problem was she had already started the sentence and she didn't see any way to get around it, besides hadn't they just talked about being more honest?

She looked at her partner's patient expression and took a deep breath. "And I...asked her for her help locating my aunt."

"Indeed, and may I ask why you requested Ms. Brooks assistance and not mine?"

The question wasn't asked with any malicious tone or resentment but honest curiosity, which made her addressing the inquiry just that much tougher.

"It's not like I didn't think you _couldn't _help but I figured that since Gannet worked for _Newstime_ and had been one of the first people on the scene so to speak, she might have a better idea of the goings on as opposed to you or I just arriving and all."

T'Pol nodded. "A logical conclusion. Have you received any information from her?"

"Yeah it came in a couple of days ago but I didn't know about it until today, what with being on medical leave and spending most of my days asleep and all. I haven't read it yet and I was hoping you would stay with me when I do... you know just in case."

"I will stay with you as long as you require, would you like to open it now?"

"Yeah, I don't think I could make it through the rest of the shift not knowing, and if it's bad and if I have a breakdown, you can just relieve me of duty right?"

Hearing the ragged edge in her partner's voice T'Pol rose from the couch and made her way over to the kitchenette and wrapped Hoshi in her arms, silently trying to soothe the younger woman's hurt and provide a steady presence of love and support.

Hoshi took one deep shuddering breath after another, basking in the strength her _t'hy'la_ seemed to be imparting to her. After a minute or so she was feeling more in control and gently pulled back. "Thank you sweetheart, I needed that," tenderly she reached up and stroked T'Pol's face before kissing her tenderly.

T'Pol returned the kiss, an invisible way of letting Hoshi know they were back on the same foot and honestly she was quite content to let the fire that was burning just beneath her surface build into a raging inferno but Hoshi smiled against her face.

"We still haven't eaten lunch yet." She whispered.

It seemed to take T'Pol a few moments to cool down and bring her breathing under control. "Yes, lunch of course."

Hoshi frowned. "Are you alright?"

T'Pol nodded and took a seat at the table and after placing the two bowls on the table Hoshi joined her.

"Would you read it to me?" she asked after a few minutes

T'Pol whom had been attempting to focus on the meal and not the fact that Hoshi's scent seemed to be hanging in the air around her like a sweet perfume that was driving her slowly mad, looked up distractedly "Pardon me?"

"The letter Gannet sent me, would you read it to me?"

_I still have time to deal with this...disorder, the important thing is to be here for my t'hy'la in her time of need. Everything else can wait._ "Yes of course." She stood and walked over to Hoshi's workstation and downloaded the letter into a PADD before returning to the table. She activated the PADD and began to read out loud.

_**Hoshi,**_

_**It took a little while and some digging but I found what you were looking for. Let me start by telling you your Aunt is both alive and well. I found out she was on a sabbatical retreat on Dalton Beta and had no idea about what had happened on Dragus, as the retreat was on comm. silence. Her retreat isn't scheduled to return for another month, but she wants me to pass a message on to you: You are still my Akemi Hoshi. When I looked at her funny she laughed and said you would know what it meant. I'm glad that I was able to help you and as I'm writing this it occurs to me that you let me off pretty easy, so consider us square. I hope we meet again and if that comes to pass, next time the coffee's on me.**_

_**-G. Brooks**_

_**PS: Last time I saw you, you looked like hell so get some sleep!**_

She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her uniform and cleared her throat. "Well she'd always call me _Akemi Hoshi, _in Japanese _Akemi_ means bright and beautiful and Hoshi means star, so she'd call me her bright and beautiful star."

"An apt description, your Aunt is obviously a wise woman."

She half snorted and half sobbed. "My sister didn't think so, she was always giving me a hard time about that name, but then again her name means 'Good' and that's about the last word I would use to describe her."

As an only child T'Pol found the talk of siblings intriguing but she was aware that their time was short and told her partner such. Through sheer force T'Pol managed to not act on the urges she was feeling when Hoshi departed with a deep kiss, but it was a close call. For Hoshi the rest of the shift passed by quickly and she was feeling great until shift ended and she remembered she had to talk to Hunter. Not wanting to delay the coming unpleasantness she strode up to his ready room door and after being admitted walked in.

Hunter observed her with a critical eye before gesturing to the empty seat in front of his desk. "Have a seat Hoshi."

As she sat down in the chair, she had the feeling of being a disobedient child being sent into the principal's office and she thought she could already imagine the talking down the Captain was going to give her and she braced herself accordingly.

"Can I get you something to drink?"

She hadn't been expecting that.

"Sir?" she inquired somewhat lamely.

"A drink."

"No thank you."

He stood and turned to the beverage dispenser and ordered up a glass of apple juice before returning to his desk. "Well Hoshi, you're probably wondering why I asked you for a meeting," She thought she had a pretty good idea but didn't say anything. "First I want to ask are you feeling alright."

_"Here it comes," _she thought with trepidation. "Yes sir, I'm fully ready to resume my duties."

He smiled warmly. "Good, in that case I want to ask you what your aspirations in Starfleet are."

For the second time in so many minutes he had surprised her, and it took a moment for her to collect her thoughts. "Well uh sir, I joined Starfleet for the chance to learn about new cultures and expand my horizons, as long as I was doing that my career was of a secondary importance to me."

"I see, and have you ever thought of going into command?"

While it was true she did enjoy sciences and especially communications, being the second officer aboard the ship _had _awaken a more than passing interest in command.

"Occasionally," she confessed.

"Well as I told you when I promoted you, I think you have the potential to do well in command. Now if you're not interested in pursuing a captaincy of your own, you have nearly reached the limits of you advancement on starship duty. You're not eligible for a promotion to full commander for another two and a half years at the earliest, so while it isn't an immediate problem it could become one in the near future."

Hoshi sighed. "Honestly sir, I've never envisioned myself commanding a starship."

"Well while Starfleet can always use good Captain's, if your heart isn't in it, then perhaps you shouldn't peruse it...but I'm not so sure your as against command as you're putting on." He reached under his desk and retrieved a PADD which he slid over to her.

"That is a recommendation for you to attend Command school, signed by Commander T'Pol and myself. Normally you would attend as a senior lieutenant for two years, but since you are on active starship duty and a lieutenant-Commander, the first year is supplemented so you'd only need one year and to pass the bridge officer exam. I would strongly urge you to try it for one year, and I'd be willing to bet you'd find you have a natural aptitude for it. Sleep on it, talk it over with T'Pol and if you're interested transmit that file to me signed and I'll have Starfleet begin transmitting lesson's for you, any questions?"

Hoshi took the PADD but didn't get up; she had some questions that needed answering. "What happens if I decide to do this?"

It took him a moment to respond, as he drank from his cup. "Well, you would be my Command Candidate, and you would begin with lessons and assignments which would be transmitted and hacked by an appointed Starfleet professor. Next since as I said earlier you are on active duty, you would begin your 'residence training' by accompanying either Commander T'Pol or myself during away missions and various going one's on the ship, in short you'll learn how to run a starship. If you complete Command school, you'd only need another eighteen months before you're eligible to be a first officer or commander of a star base."

She had reservations and still needed to talk to T'Pol, but she was intrigued. "How long do I have?"

Hunter leaned back. "I'll need your response either way within the next three weeks, anything else?"

"No, I think that's everything sir."

He inclined his head.

She got up but before she left the room Hunter called her name. "Hoshi."

"Yes sir?"

"As my Second Officer I need to know I can depend on you, I know you are dealing with some personal issues, I don't need to know what they are. What I do need to know I can count on you and what happened before will never happen again, I don't need to tell you what the potential dangerous situation that could have happened not only you but the entire ship as well.

Hoshi hung her head low. "I'm sorry sir; it will never happen again, you have my word."

He held her gaze before nodding. "If it does I'll have no choice but to strip you of rank and charge you with dereliction of duty."

"I understand."

"Good, dismissed."

She left the ready room more unsure and anxious leaving than she had been upon entering; all things considered the disciplinary actions taken against her could have been much worse, not to, emotion she had kind of deserved it. Thinking back on the other part of the conversation she just didn't see what Hunter (and judging from the recommendation, T'Pol as well) saw in her that indicated she'd be good at command; the few times she had held the conn. had been fairly uneventful; excluding the first and second times.

She blinked and realized she was standing in front of T'Pol's quarters; her body had brought her there on autopilot. She rang the chime and after a moment was allowed entrance. As usual it took a moment before she adjusted to the dimmer lighting, higher gravity and temperature that T'Pol maintained in her quarters in an attempt to mimic Vulcan's natural environment.

She saw her partner sitting on the floor, legs crossed in a clearly medative position and she suddenly felt as if she were intruding.

"Uhm, if this is a bad time I can come back lat-"

T'Pol interrupted her with a raised hand and easily rose to her feet. "Now is a fine time, join me on the couch."

Something was different and it took Hoshi a moment to realize she had never seen T'Pol meditate so early in the evening; normally the activity was done prior to the Vulcan sleeping.

"Is everything okay T'Pol?"

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow in a questioning expression.

"You were meditating earlier than normal." Hoshi elaborated.

"No nothing new is going on," replied the Vulcan, "However you seem like something is bothering you."

Something about the way her partner phrased that statement bothered her but she couldn't pin it down. But in an effort to be more forth coming with T'Pol she let it go and instead adopted a sickly sweet tone. "I had a meeting with Captain Hunter, and he told me that he was of the opinion that I should attend command school, would you know anything about that sweetheart?"

Other than the lightest of flushes on her face the Vulcan showed no outward reaction to the inquiry. "The Captain and I are required to discuss potential advancement and career options for personnel when filing department reports and during yours the Captain mentioned that he thought you were well suited for command, and he wished to know my opinion as well. I agreed with his assessment stating that if you were agreeable to pursuing such a career option you would need to attend at least one year of command school. He agreed and we placed our signatures on a recommendation, which apparently he gave to you."

"Why did you agree with him, I just don't see it."

"Hoshi speaking purely as your superior officer, you _do_ possess the skills to do well in command; you are intelligent, sociable, reliable, and hardworking and possess natural leadership qualities. You enjoy being the communications officer, and while it does offer you some challenge, a part of you...a significant part of you is not being challenged enough to utilize your full potential. Consider this, the times you have been in command how did you feel?"

Hoshi thought back on those times, practically reliving them in her mind. "Exhilarated and powerful...it felt right."

T'Pol nodded her head as if expecting that answer. "The Captain and myself see that in you which is why the Captain made you his second officer, which is technically a command position, all command school would do would broaden your knowledge and prepare you for an executive officer position when you are eligible for a promotion to Commander."

"So...what's command school like?"

"I do not know."

Hoshi's eyebrows were in danger of shooting off her forehead. "What do you mean you don't know, you're the First Officer aren't you?"

T'Pol shook her head. "Allow me to clarify; I do not know what _Starfleet's_ Command school is like, my command training took place on Vulcan nearly thirty years ago. And I would imagine the experience would differ somewhat."

That made Hoshi pause for a moment; thirty years ago she had only been eight years old.

In contrast T'Pol had been forty-nine.

Occasionally Hoshi was reminded of the age gap between T'Pol and herself; it wasn't an issue with either of them, (and when taking into account the relative lifespans of their species the age gap wasn't particularly large) but she had to admit it _was_ odd to consider that while she was still having the occasional problem with bed wetting T'Pol was older _then_ than she was _now_.

"However," The sound of T'Pol's voice brought her back into the conversation. "If it is anything like the training I underwent, and I have no doubt it will be, then it will be one of the most trying and grueling experiences you will ever experience. If you have question about the actual program, I suggest you consult either Commander LaForge or Captain Hunter, they both completed the program, and while the Captain obviously chose to utilize his training Commander LaForge choose to focus his talents into engineering."

"Thanks I think I'll do that but you haven't told me if you think I should peruse this."

T'Pol sat quietly for a moment, giving the question the serious thought it required. "Well as your partner and supervisor, I want to see you live up to your full potential."

Hoshi smiled. "That's why you used to ride me so hard back on the NX-01, especially in the beginning."

T'Pol nodded. "Back then you required a...more disciplined approach. You suffered serious self-doubt issues and had it not been for Captain Archer and myself you would have most likely returned to a civilian life and resigned your commission." That was true; in those first two years she had considered leaving Starfleet more times than she could count. "However since then you have matured considerably and have...I believe the saying is 'come into your own'. You preform to high standards, yet I feel you are capable of much more."

Hoshi nodded her agreement. Having T'Pol's point of view oftentimes helped give her the proper distance she needed to see a situation from other angles and react in a less emotional and more thought out manner. "Well then I guess I'm going to Command school, if for no other reason than to see what I'm capable of, because honestly right now I don't know."

She attempted to stifle a yawn, but to no avail.

T'Pol raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at her partner but didn't say anything.

Hoshi sighed loudly. "I get it I need to get some rest, I just wish there was a way to do it without that damn drug I hate how groggy it leaves me after I use it. Hey T'Pol maybe you could try using that nerve pinch thingy on me."

T'Pol knew Hoshi was joking but she was seized by an idea. "The nerve pinch isn't a valid solution, it would only rend you unconscious for perhaps an hour and when you awoke you would be in pain. However I believe that a similar technique would be suitable, perhaps I could begin administering nueropressure.

"Nueropressure?"

T'Pol nodded, only surprised the idea hadn't occurred to her earlier. "Nueropressure is similar to therapeutic massage, it allows the body and mind to work in unison and achieve a state of deep relaxation. I preformed it for Trip when he was suffering from insomnia after the Xindi attack on Earth."

Hoshi frowned slightly at the thought of T'Pol rubbing down Commander Tucker, before shaking her head to clear the image. "Did it work?"

"Yes, he was receptive to the therapy."

Hoshi shrugged figuring she had nothing to lose by giving it the old 'college try' and that in the process of trying it she'd get her very attractive partner to give her a massage which could possibly help her sleep.

If this didn't qualify as a win-win situation she didn't know what did.

"Okay let's try it. What do you need me to do?"

"Remove your clothing and lie face down on the bed."

"Are you sure you're not just trying to sleep with me? You know we can just have sex if you want." Hoshi smiled, her tone indicating that she was teasing T'Pol.

"There will be no sexual activities." T'Pol said dryly. "However what we are about to share will be nearly as intimate."

Hoshi did as instructed and was soon laying nude on the bed. She felt the mattress dip as T'Pol climbed onto the bed and a moment later straddled her across the hips. T'Pol began to gently rub and squeeze Hoshi's muscles, finding a large amount of tension that she wasn't sure her _t'hy'la_ even knew she was carrying in her shoulders and neck.

"Wow, I have no idea what you're doing but it feels amazing."

"Just concentrate on relaxing _ashal-veh_." T'Pol responded, taking pleasure in being able to do this for Hoshi; to take care of her. It wasn't something she got to do often, she and Hoshi were both fairly independent people, but she secretly enjoyed the opportunity to do something special for the woman she loved.

She reached a particularly tense spot on the inside of Hoshi's shoulder blade and increased her pressure subtly causing her partner to inhale in pleasure.

"Oh sweetheart...if I knew you could...could do this I'd have...oh right there. I'd have asked you to do it...a long time ago."

The session lasted nearly an hour and by the time T'Pol was finished Hoshi was out cold. A hint of a smile ghosted over her normally impassive face, before she went to her closet and changed into a long sleeping shirt; it would be the only thing she'd wear on top of her Starfleet issued undergarments. That accomplished she went into the bathroom and swished a mouthful of the cleaning solution before spitting it in the sink and running the water briefly to clean out the bowl.

In the 22nd Century it wasn't necessary to brush or floss one's teeth, the cleaning solution took care of that, dissolving bacteria and dirt in the mouth and leaving one with fresh breath for 12-16 hours. Thanks to that invention morning breath was a thing of the past.

Returning to the bedroom and saw that Hoshi had rolled over onto her side, climbing into the bed T'Pol spooned up against her partner's slumbering form, wrapped them both in a blanket and within moments joined her in a deep and peaceful sleep.

Hoshi awoke the next morning feeling refreshed in a manner she hadn't experienced in weeks, even when she had been taking the sedative Sveck prescribed for her, this was the refreshment that only come from a natural good night of sleep. Rolling over she saw the bed was empty and the sheets were cold, signify T'Pol had been up for a while. Getting out of bed she saw that a uniform had been laid out for her on the dresser. Smiling at her _t'hy'la_ kindness she went into the bathroom to finish her morning routine.

Fifteen minutes later she was stepping through the large double doors of the mess hall, normally she prepared breakfast for herself but since she was running early this morning she had decided to dine in the mess hall. The ship's mess officer Reilly had prepared a selection of pastries for the officers and after deciding on an apple Danish, and a cup of coffee to wash it down with she sat down at an empty table. She had no sooner taken her first bite of the warm Danish than a shadow fell across the table, looking up she saw Crewman Porter holding a tray with a large omelet and looking at her with an earnest expression on his face.

"Do you mind if I join you Commander?"

Hoshi mentally noted there were about half a dozen free tables all around the mess, but she was much too polite to point that out and instead gestured at the empty seat across from her. "Of course not, have a seat Nathan."

Thanks to Laura Jacobs she was well aware that Porter had a crush on her, but he was a nice man and fairly harmless, plus it wasn't like she was looking outside her relationship with T'Pol. The worst she had to worry about with Porter was a little light flirting, he wouldn't try anything; respecting that Hoshi was already in a relationship.

"So Commander, what brings you down to the mess hall?"

Hoshi shrugged around a bite of her Danish. "I was running a little early today and decided for a little change of pace." she said truthfully.

"Well it's always a pleasure to have you around Commander." He smiled brightly, showing a row of perfect teeth.

"So how's everything going in Stellar Cartography?" she asked, grateful that she had remembered the department he worked in.

His mouth opened but before Porter could answer an icy voice interrupted him. "Crewman, what do you think you're doing?"

Hoshi looked up and saw her partner glowering, literally _glowering_ at the young officer. Porter on the other hand was gaping like a fish.

"Commander T'Pol! I was...I was just-

"Showing a romantic interest in my _t'hy'la_?" she supplied venomously.

By now the whole mess had turned around to see what was going on and Hoshi couldn't believe what she was hearing. "T'Pol it's fine, he wasn't flirting, he was just having breakfast with-"

The Vulcan's normally impassive hazel eyes locked onto her and hardened. "Be quiet Commander Sato."

Hoshi felt as if she had been struck dumb and could only watch as T'Pol turned back to Porter who flinched and seemed to be vacillating between running away and trying not wet himself.

"Report to your station Crewman before I put you on report for inappropriate behavior on duty and conduct unbecoming a Starfleet officer." She never raised her voice but her tone made it quite clear to all she was more than willing to carry out that threat.

He nodded mutely and practically ran from the table, leaving behind his half eaten breakfast without so much as a backwards glance. T'Pol turned her gaze on the people whom had been observing and they all decided to concentrate on their plates or the walls.

She shot Hoshi another look this one was equal parts anger, lust and confusion. Then just as suddenly as she'd appeared she was leaving the mess hall, meanwhile all Hoshi could do was stare after her and wonder what the hell had just happened.

Outside in the hallway T'Pol leaned heavily against the bulkhead, she realized she had lost control in the mess hall in a _big_ way. She had originally come there to find her partner but the sight of Hoshi talking to Porter had driven her mad with jealousy and before she quite knew what she was doing she was tearing into him.

She was running out of time and she knew it, the symptoms were becoming more severe and progressively harder to control. If she didn't do something soon she would perish. She had tried putting it off for months now but it was no longer deniable, and as much as she didn't want to face it she knew what her body was telling her.

_Pon-Farr _had arrived.

**Epilogue**

"Who did it?"

Colonel Sulvae was a woman who had done and seen things that would repulse any civilized person, it was safe to assume that she wasn't easily intimidated. And it went without saying there wasn't much that unnerved or scared her.

But the tone of voice Jar'zk was using sent a shiver of fear down her spine.

"Tulmek sir."

Jar'zks face remained blank. "I see, and did it occur to Tulmek that it might not be the smartest idea to test the weapon in Federation space?"

Sulvae hesitated for a second. "I don't believe so sir, Lenua raised an objection, but he had her...terminated."

"A shame, Lenua was a promising agent," although his tone remained neutral, he paused momentarily in apparent respect for the young woman. "Because of Tulmeks shortsightedness Starfleet has redeployed nearly all of its active ships in an attempt to find us."

In her moment of shock Sulvae forgot herself and spoke out of turn. "Has the plan been compromised?"

Jar'zk decided to forgive the breach in protocol... this time. "No our goals are still achievable, we will not be deterred by Starfleet who truthfully are nothing more than a minor inconvenience. In the meantime Colonel I need you to arrest Tulmek and execute Order 26."

What might have been a hint of a smile ghosted across Sulvaes features. "Right away sir."

Order 26 was the ultimate punishment for a Tal-Shiar operative. Any agent found guilty of willfully undermining a Tal-Shiar operation was arrested and put on trial. Of course the outcome was already decided making said trial was merely a formality. When the agent was found guilty other agents were dispatched to kill all members of the guilty party's family up to their fourth cousin. The agent was then forced to watch the footage of their family being killed while under duress of torture, before being killed and all traces of their existence wiped from any database. The Tal-Shiar were masters of torture and Sulvae was particularly gifted, she knew how to keep a person alive for weeks under her..._tender_ ministrations.

Her heart sped up in excitement while she hoped Tulmek was strong enough to survive what she planned for him, because before she finished with him she had every intention of breaking her old record of thirty five days with a prisoner.

She turned to leave but before she made it to the door General Jar'zk called to her. "One more thing Colonel, once Order 26 is complete you will assume Tulmeks duties. Congratulations."

Other than a slight nod of her head she gave no outward indication of her feelings. Inside however any happiness she had felt at executing Order 26 was abruptly gone with the realization that by assuming Tulmeks duties she was effectively the General's second in command. Truth be told she wanted nothing to do with the position, everyone knew it had a notoriously short tenure. She let that thought worry her as the door slid shut behind her.

Once he was alone Jar'zk face lost its previously impassive facade and assumed a thoughtful expression. Although he had dismissed Starfleet's interference to Sulvae in reality he was somewhat concerned. Starfleet had been the only organization to defeat the Romulan Star Empire in over three centuries. He may not have liked Humans but he had to admit they could be fierce combatants when they felt threatened. For a moment his concern turned into panic as unbidden images of Cheron flitted across his mind. With a discernable effort he shook them free and regained his bearings. It would be different this time.

This time the Federation would lay crushed under his heel.

In the meantime he had a hail to make.

**The End**

**Okay now that you've finished reading we can get down to some stuff, first the reason this was so late was not due to my life or lack of motivation but by simple hardware failure. And its taken this long for me to get a new computer(yay!) so I'll be back to posting regularly (promise!) Second thank you to all your notes and inquiries while I was away I'll be answering them all A.S.A.P. As always your reviews, comments and ideas are always welcome whether on this page or as a P.M. I'm working overtime to get caught up on the next installment of my Enterprise series as well as a few projects on the back burner so stop by my page to see what I'm up to finally as we part company for this story I want you all to remember one word: ****Cheron****. It will have particular meaning in the coming stories. Not so much the next one but the ones after that, I think that's everything so until next time, peace.**

**-Phatalbert21**


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